Yahoo and Doritos have recently announced giveaways to win iPod minis, iPod, and iTunes gift certificates. Yahoo is giving away an iPod mini a day for 30 days. No purchase necessary and give away ends April 8, 2004. See rules for details. Frito-Lay is giving away a 40GB iPod and $150 iTunes gift certificate as the grand prize in its Doritos Soundbites’ Download it Sweepstakes promotion. Two daily winners will get $20 iTunes gift certificates. You can enter the sweepstakes daily to increase your chances. Ends April 1, 2004. See rules for details.

MacMinute reports on a story published at SiliconeValley.com describing Apple’s strategy to sell more iPods while making less profits overall.

“In the coming months, Apple will begin to unfurl its strategy of making a little less profit on the average iPod, but selling a lot more of them. A Hewlett-Packard branded version of the iPod is due in a few weeks, and HP will pocket some of the profit from that version. The new iPod mini will bring Apple less profit per sale than previous iPod models, because its parts make up a larger portion of its $249 price tag.

Success for Apple will mean selling so many of the music players that the slimmer profits don’t matter, and paying lower prices for the iPod’s building blocks. Apple will begin to show success or failure in the spring”

Vfxsoup has posted an interesting interview with Alex Brodie, who produced the silhouettes for the iPod ads. The interview also has two before and after photos of the people that became silhouettes in the rock version of the iPod commercials.

“Alex: One of the most challenging projects recently was the Apple iPod silhouette campaign. Each different music genre had a different version, in different lengths and different markets. I think I started seeing disembodied white wires dancing around in my sleep. I’m somewhat of a control freak, and do all my own roto, so I had to move fast. When your job is to be a perfectionist, the biggest challenge is always deadlines! Adrenaline though is a better stimulant than caffeine.”

Update: At the request of Apple, the site has removed all references to the iPod ads since our posting.

Software developers, StartBrite Solutions after being pressured by Apple’s legal department have removed the pPod/pBop iPod emulator software for PocketPC PDAs from its website. “Due to legal pressure from Apple we are no longer able to distribute this application. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

MacMinute.com reports that “Apple’s iPod marketing team has transformed the St. George subway station in downtown Toronto into an ‘Apple dreamland,’ local resident Jonathan Ta-Min told MacMinute. He noted that iPod ads adorn nearly every object of the station

“‘China is the largest and fastest growing consumer market in the world today with more than 1.3 billion consumers,” said Fiorina [HP CEO]. “The use of computers is spreading more rapidly here than any other nation.’ Hewlett-Packard returned to China eight months ago after withdrawing in 2001. The company plans to introduce its full range of consumer products, Fiorina said. This includes the HP-branded iPod music player based on Apple’s best selling music player, as well as projectors, entertainment hubs and displays.”

“A French association representing recorded music rights holders threatened Wednesday to take Apple Computer Inc. to court in a dispute over lost music royalties.

The argument centers on a fee levied in France on sales of blank CDs, tapes, hard disks, and other hardware that can be used to copy music. The proceeds go to musicians and other rights holders who lose money to piracy.

The Society of Music Creators, Composers and Publishers, or Sacem, accuses Apple of consistently refusing to pay the levy on sales of its iPod music player, which contains a hard disk drive.”

“If you thought you liked the iPod because of its looks, think again. It could, according to one academic, be a way of regaining your personal space.

To Dr Michael Bull, portable music players are ‘multi-faceted transformative devices’, a ‘tool whereby users manage space, time and the boundaries around the self.’

Dr. Bull is one of the few academics, possibly the only one, to spend time researching what owners of iPods and other music players do with their gadgets, why they listen to them and what difference they make to their lives.”

“Gearing up for the fourth annual Civic Tour, American Honda Motor Co., is pleased to announce this year’s tour headliner, Dashboard Confessional. The nationwide tour will launch on May 13 in Portland, ME.

The band chose to have the Civic Coupe (one of Honda’s top selling models) painted and designed with a unique and vibrant look. Included in this year’s customized Civics are state-of-the-art, premium audio components from Alpine Electronics. The system features a 500-watt DVD mobile multimedia system with DVD/CD/MP3/WMA/CDR/CDRW playback and satellite-linked navigation. High-performance Type-S speakers, subwoofers and V12 amps complete the system. Each vehicle will also include an Apple iPOD that can be controlled directly from the in-dash receiver using Alpine’s new interface.

Back this year, by popular demand, is the traveling Civic Tour Non-Stop Music Lounge presented by Alpine Electronics, where the customized Dashboard Confessional Civic will be showcased as well as provide a cool spot for fans to visit before and after the show. The new Civic will be on tour with the band, giving fans an up-close-and-personal look at the highly customized machine autographed by Dashboard Confessional. A total of 10 of these unique Civics will be awarded through national and local media promotions, one of which will be given away through civictour.com.”

“A Memphis woman was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after she bludgeoned her boyfriend to death with an iPod. [...]

Brad Pulaski had died of blunt trauma to the head after being repeatedly bludgeoned with an iPod, a popular MP3 player produced by Apple. [...]

According to law officers, Mathers was hysterical when police arrived and told them that she killed her boyfriend only after he accused her of illegally downloading music and erased about 2,000 of her MP3s. Mathers complained that it took 3 months to build her music collection.”

“This is all very interesting, but I believe analysts and others are missing the big picture: iPod success paves the way for Mac OS X on X86. People have argued for years for and against the release of Mac OS X on Intel (and AMD) commodity hardware, but Apple derives such a large portion of its revenue from hardware that doing so could potentially damage the company beyond repair. But, what if Apple replaces that lost Mac hardware revenue with iPod revenue?

Steve Jobs would then be free to drop what amounts to a hydrogen bomb on Microsoft. Mac OS X that runs on “regular” off-the-shelf x86 hardware. Or partner with a Sony, for example - to insure quality. Years before “Longhorn” even comes close to shipping. Moo.”

“As I stepped out the front door of my hotel into Times Square, iPod in-hand, I walked into a sea of white headphones. It was really amazing to see how many people were carrying an iPod—it seemed like every second person I saw had the telltale signs of an iPod under their jacket.

I felt like a member of a special, secret club. As you pass by someone with an iPod, they would give you a slight nod—kind of like people that drive motorcycles do when they pass each other on the road. (Okay, maybe I was being a bit sensitive to the amount of iPods I saw, but I swear people were nodding at me as they walked past).”

“Macworld readers are split over the need for huge iPod capacity, with 17 per cent convinced that the 4GB offered by the iPod mini is “fine”, yet 16 per cent saying 80GB is needed to fulfill their requirements.

Another 15 per cent say the 15GB model meets their needs, 10GB is enough for 12 per cent, 30GB is the choice of 12 per cent, and 40GB for the remaining 10 per cent.

Some readers indicate that they now require more than one iPod (2 per cent), 13 per cent say they don’t need an iPod, and 2 per cent have opted for another player.”

Pogue Press/O’Reilly have released iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual 2nd Edition. “In this freshly updated edition, New York Times tech columnist J. D. Biersdorfer blows open the secret doors of this gleaming, chrome-and-white beauty. With humor and authority, she lays bare an astonishing collection of useful tips, tricks, and shortcuts, and covers all iPod models for both Mac and Windows, including the iPod Mini. iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual is also the ultimate guide to the iTunes software, MusicMatch Jukebox, and the new iTunes Music Store for both Mac and Windows.” Available at Amazon.com for $17.47.